Porsche: We Won’t Do Any GT SUVs—Ever

Mike Duff

May 8, 2017

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Demand for faster and fancier SUVs has created some unlikely performance leviathans. The number of premium automakers that are holding out against the trend is dwindling seemingly by the minute. But, although Porsche can lay good claim to having kick-started the entire segment with the original Cayenne, we can take comfort that the company’s Motorsport division says it will never diversify into SUVs.

From a marketing point of view, a GT-branded Cayenne or Macan would make a huge amount of sense. We live in a world where Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce both have committed to producing SUVs. But Andreas Preuninger, Porsche GT’s head of road-car development, predicts that hell will have developed permafrost before his division works on something other than a true sports car.

“The credibility of the GT car is based on direct bloodline to the race cars,” he told C/D. “A customer buying a GT3 knows there’s a derivative that’s on track every other weekend in a different race series.” While Preuninger insisted he is a huge fan of the Cayenne and regularly drives a turbo model himself, he said it could never become a GT without being entered into a major motorsport program.

“If we were to enter the Dakar rally with a Macan or Cayenne—something we have no plans to do—then maybe the Motorsport department would develop that car and bring it to the race. Then I would see a good excuse to make something for the street that is very close,” Preuninger said. “But to just use a badge on a Panamera or Cayenne to make it more attractive, for me, would not be credible. It would only be marketing, I don’t think that’s the right thing to do.” Our agreement is total.